Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital economy is facing a major infrastructure threat, with 5,934 fibre-optic cables cut across the country in the first six months of 2026.
The figure, released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), means an average of about 65 fibre-cut incidents occurred every day, raising fresh concerns over the vulnerability of telecommunications infrastructure supporting Nigeria’s booming digital payments and online economy.
The development comes as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reported that electronic payments hit a record N1.053 quadrillion in the first quarter of 2026.
The Q1 2026 figure, contained in the CBN’s Quarterly Statistical Bulletin, represents a 2.85 per cent increase from N1.024 quadrillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
The figures highlight a troubling contradiction: Nigeria’s digital economy is processing unprecedented volumes of transactions, even as the infrastructure powering the system is repeatedly damaged, often by road construction activities.
Mobile payments emerged as one of the strongest-performing channels during the quarter, with transaction volume rising 28.60 per cent year-on-year to 2.67 billion, while transaction value increased 7.73 per cent to N112.12 trillion.
ATM transactions also recorded significant growth, with volume increasing 6.60 per cent to 438.59 million and value jumping 64.62 per cent to N26.30 trillion.
The Nigeria Instant Payment system, however, recorded a mixed performance. Transaction volume dropped 17.70 per cent to 1.82 billion, while the value of transactions increased 12.55 per cent to N320.76 trillion, indicating that fewer but larger transactions were being processed through the platform.
Point-of-Sale transactions recorded a decline, with volume falling 19.90 per cent from 3.64 billion to 2.92 billion, while value dropped 16.42 per cent from N70.98 trillion to N59.33 trillion.
Web transactions, meanwhile, recorded 218.80 million transactions valued at N516.10 trillion, representing an 11.72 per cent increase in value compared with the previous year.
Cheque transactions continued their long-term decline, falling to 1.81 million transactions valued at N7.57 trillion, compared with N9.17 trillion in Q1 2025.
The growing digital payment activity is increasingly dependent on stable telecommunications infrastructure, making the scale of fibre damage a major economic concern.
Data from the NCC showed that Abuja, Lagos, Rivers, Kano and Kaduna recorded some of the highest levels of fibre disruptions, with the affected locations also serving as major centres for banking, fintech, enterprise connectivity and other digital services.
Every major fibre cut in these corridors can disrupt ATMs, POS terminals, fintech platforms, logistics operations, hospitals and business communications.
Speaking at an NCC stakeholders’ workshop in Abuja, Effiom Ewa, Director of Critical National Security and Infrastructure Protection at the Office of the National Security Adviser, said fibre damage should no longer be viewed as merely a telecommunications problem.
“Every fibre-optic cable damage is more than a disruption to a network, or simply a cable cut,” Ewa said.
According to him, such incidents constitute disruptions to governance, economic productivity, public services and the daily lives of Nigerians.
He noted that fibre-optic infrastructure is designated as Critical National Information Infrastructure under Nigerian law and warned that negligent damage or interference could constitute a criminal offence.
The Federal Ministry of Works also acknowledged the recurring conflict between road construction and underground telecommunications infrastructure.
Olarinre Adeladan, Permanent Secretary of the ministry, said better mapping and coordination with telecommunications operators before excavation would help reduce damage to underground cables.
She said the ministry would work with the NCC to develop joint protocols for federally funded road projects.
Similarly, Nadungu Gagare, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, said the Standing Committee on the Protection of Fibre Optic Cables had expanded to include the Office of the National Security Adviser.
She said the committee was expected to develop enforceable coordination frameworks to protect the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.
The NCC said 1,883 of the 5,934 fibre cuts recorded during the first half of 2026 occurred in the first quarter, indicating that incidents increased in the second quarter.
NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Aminu Maida, recalled that fibre cuts caused by road construction in February 2024 contributed to a major network disruption, affecting millions of telecommunications users and putting additional pressure on competing networks.
“To a machine operator on a construction site, it may appear to be one buried cable,” Maida said. “To the nation, it can mean failed calls, stalled payments, interrupted services and missed opportunities.”
The financial burden on telecommunications operators is also mounting.
Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, said the industry spent N2.2 billion on direct repairs arising from fibre cuts during the first six months of 2026.
He said the figure did not include revenue lost during outages or funds diverted from network expansion to emergency repairs.
Adebayo called for a legal requirement compelling road construction contractors to obtain clearance from the NCC before excavation in areas with mapped underground telecommunications infrastructure.
The NCC is pursuing both technical and legislative measures to tackle the problem.
The commission is developing a centralised database of underground infrastructure that road agencies and contractors can consult before excavation, while also working on a framework requiring pre-excavation notification to network operators.
However, the proposed measures are yet to become fully enforceable, while infrastructure mapping remains incomplete in some states.
The development has also raised questions over conflicting datasets on digital transactions.
While the CBN reported POS transaction value of N59.33 trillion for Q1 2026, a separate Nigeria Interbank Settlement System dataset cited by Financial Derivatives Company put POS transaction value at N18.78 trillion.
The difference is attributed to methodology, with the NIBSS figure covering terminals settled through its infrastructure, while the CBN data captures the broader POS channel across settlement pathways.
The NCC has set a target of reducing fibre-cut incidents by 40 per cent before the end of 2026.
With an average of about 989 incidents recorded monthly during the first six months, achieving the target would require the monthly average to fall to roughly 593 incidents in the second half of the year.
For a country increasingly dependent on digital payments, online commerce, telecommunications and fintech services, industry stakeholders say protecting the fibre backbone is no longer simply a telecoms issue but an economic and national infrastructure priority.
